IBM Unveils New Design Studio to Transform the Way Clients Interact with Software and Emerging Technologies

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Austin, Texas
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06 Nov 2013:
IBM (NYSE:IBM) today announced the opening of a state-of-the-art product design studio in Austin, Texas that will focus on how a new era of software will be designed, developed and consumed by organizations around the globe.

From this studio, IBM will transform how the company designs software across all IBM, including Big Data, cloud, mobile, social software and cognitive solutions. This new space is built for direct collaboration, bringing together designers, developers and product managers to help IBM change its approach to software design.

“This studio is the embodiment of a new approach to software design. It is the home of IBM Design Thinking, a broad, ambitious new approach to re-imagining how we design our products and solutions,” said Phil Gilbert, general manager, IBM Design. “Quite simply, our goal -- on a scale unmatched in the industry -- is to modernize enterprise software for today's user who demands great design everywhere, at home and at work."

IBM Designcamps--Instilling Design Thinking across the Company

To help IBMers put Design Thinking to work to better serve its clients, IBM hosts one-week training camps at its Austin, Texas studio to bring product managers, developers and designers together for an intense, experiential week of learning. So far, 60 product teams have completed Designcamp and are putting their new thinking to work on mobile, social, cloud, security, and Big Data products.

In addition to actively educating existing IBM team leads from engineering, design, and product management on its approach to design, IBM is recruiting design experts and is engaging with leading design schools across the country to bring designers on board, including the d.school: Institute of Design at Stanford University, Rhode Island School of Design, Carnegie Mellon University, North Carolina State University, and Savannah College of Art & Design. Leading skill sets at the IBM Design Studio include Visual Design, Graphic artists, User Experience Designers, Design Developers, including Mobile developers, and Industrial designers.

Earlier this week, IBM announced the first commercial product offering to be developed using IBM Design Thinking, InfoSphere Data Explorer.

IBM has a longstanding history of design excellence from its iconic 8-bar logo, to the sleekly modern Thomas J. Watson Research Center , to the award-winning z/Enterprise server and THINK tablet application. This new product design studio and initiative continues this heritage by directly addressing how the rapid adoption of mobile, social, cloud and Big Data is presenting novel design challenges to software developers and end users alike. With this new global effort to redesign and simplify software, IBM will effectively meet the increasing demand that enterprise solutions offer the same experience as the apps every day users they employ in their personal lives.

The Austin Design Studio joins the Research and Development Labs, SmartCloud Innovation Center, Watson Solutions, cloud and smarter infrastructure teams, as well as IBM Security Systems, all with a presence on the Austin campus.

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IBM Chairman and CEO Ginni Rometty, right, talks with designers David Schwartz, left, and Erin Hauber at the opening of IBM's state-of-the-art Design Studio in Austin, Texas on Wednesday, Nov 6, 2013. The new facility brings together designers, developers and product managers to transform how software is developed and used by companies embracing cloud computing, Big Data, mobile devices and social media. (Jack Plunkett/Feature Photo Service for IBM)